$100 donation for pets from 'Barefoot Bandit' up for auction

Share this story

RAYMOND, Wash. -- The notorious Barefoot Bandit apparently had a soft spot for animals -- and now a donation the former teen fugitive slipped through a vet clinic's door is listed on eBay.

Receptionist Tammy Foust found a note slipped through the front door Vetters Animal Hospital in Raymond a few years ago. She wondered why a customer would leave a wad of $1, $2, $10, and $20 bills totaling $100.

Foust didn't recognize the name on the handwritten note, but Dr. Gina Lewis did.

"She says, 'Oh, Tammy, that's Colton Harris-Moore,' " says Foust. She still didn't register that she'd just opened a note from from an infamous teen fugitive.

The printed note read: "Drove by, had some extra cash. Please use this money for care of animals." It was signed Colton Harris-Moore (AKA: "The Barefoot Bandit) Camano Island, WA. Raymond police confiscated the evidence and finally returned it a few weeks ago.

The clinic has framed the cash, a copy of the outlaw's note, the evidence bag, and four police documents, including a Washington State Patrol report that confirms Harris-Moore's fingerprint was on the money.

The original note was written on the back of a car manual and was returned to the owners of the stolen car who requested the manual page back.

The highest eBay bid will benefit HAVA, the only animal shelter in Raymond.

"It is desperately needed," says the shelter's Vice President Leslie Moulton. "We have a lot of stray animals. We adopted out 300 animals last year alone."

Moore's notoriety has attracted eBay eyes before. There are books and T-shirts listed. One woman tried selling plaster casts of Barefoot Bandit footprints. A businessman in Miami listed Harris-Moore's stolen getaway boat that was riddled with bullet holes from Bahamian police during his capture.

The vet clinic is receiving some heat for listing the evidence but Foust says, "It isn't to give him any props. It's to help out the animals."